


Tough Work

by igottoomuchwriting



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Nines refers to himself as Richard so that's why gavin says Nines, Upgraded Connor | RK900 Has a Different Name, its like richard is his name nines is a nickname, nines is sad by proxy, really only gavin, these bois sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2020-04-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:35:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23491804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/igottoomuchwriting/pseuds/igottoomuchwriting
Summary: Gavin had a tough scene to deal with and it heavily affected him. Luckily Richard was there to help him.(TW: mentions/descriptions of child abuse. Please don't read if that makes you uncomfortable)
Relationships: Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Comments: 1
Kudos: 63





	Tough Work

_ From Gavin:  _ hey bb i'm gonna be home late just so ya know

_ From Gavin:  _ dont want you worrying

Richard looked at the message in his hub and smiled. He was glad that Gavin remembered to text him instead of leaving Richard to worry about his health and well being.

When the couple had started dating, Richard brought up the fact that they would most likely let their feelings get in the way of doing their jobs correctly. At first Gavin brushed him off, thinking that their relationship wouldn’t have strong enough feelings that it would become a detriment to their work. 

Then, a month into their relationship, they ended up in a shootout with a suspect. The suspect had been aiming at Richard. Gavin, being the irrational man that he is, he jumped in front of Richard as he shot at the suspect. He was able to hit the suspect without killing him, however Gavin was hit in the side. Luckily all major organs were avoided and he was released without a few days, but Richard used this event to make Gavin see that working separately would be better for their relationship. Plus, they wouldn’t have to be around each other 24/7, statistically giving their relationship a better chance at surviving.

Richard ended up transferring, seeing as he had only been working at the main precinct for a year, verus Gavin working there since he began his career. His new workplace accepted him fully, especially after he got a letter of recommendation from Hank—his reputation still seemed to be held high amongst the other precincts.

It wasn’t a bad step up between the couple, though Connor did inform Richard that for the first two weeks of Richard being at a new precinct, he was crankier and seemed to be picking more fights. Richard talked to Gavin about it and was able to get Gavin to stop picking on new recruits (and Connor and Hank, at Connor’s request).

With the couple now working at different precincts, they had to balance different work schedules. Richard had both of their schedules on his internal calendar, so he knew when their days lined up, when they could meet up before going home, when they could head to work together, anything like that. Of course, there are days when either of them have to work late, so they make sure to keep each other updated for any changes.

Knowing it would be a while before Gavin would be able to get home, Richard decided to put off cooking dinner. He would be able to make something quick for Gavin when he got back. For now, he would make headway on the new book series he picked up while he waited.

Richard’s head snapped up when he heard the lock turn, just in time to see Gavin storming in and slamming the door shut behind him.

Richard watched as Gavin kicked off his shoes in a random spot, throwing his jacket on the ground and marching past Richard without so much as a hello.

“Gavin?” Richard called, confused.

“What.” Richard quickly made a note of where he left off and made his way towards the bedroom. He doesn’t know what could have happened that would make Gavin this mad, but he needed to get to the bottom of it.

“How was work?” Often Gavin did not like being asked what was wrong straight out, so Richard always had to go around until he wore Gavin down enough to open up. There were times when he wished Gavin trusted him enough to open up, but as he has learned from deviancy and every story that Connor and Tina have shared with him, humans—especially  _ his  _ human—were not that simple.

“Fine.” He did not look at Richard, just continued throwing his clothes around and making a mess.

“Did you get a lot of work done?”

“Yep.” Richard's face scrunched up in confusion. Something really must have made Gavin mad if he was refusing to look or talk to him.

Richard decided to stay back and watch. It seemed that Gavin had already forgotten that he was there, just moving around and picking up what he threw. Richard understood this to be his stress cleaning. He was okay with a little mess, a little clutter, though when the world gets too much he just cleans.

And then he just stopped. Gavin had been moving extra chargers they had back into the chest at the end of their bed when he froze. Richard waited for him to move, for him to keep cleaning, but it seemed as if he was in a trance. He stayed where he was, almost unblinking while staring at the box, hands clenched around the shirt he was holding.

Richard stepped forward and placed his hand on Gavin’s shoulder, prepared to pull the man back into a hug when Gavin snapped out of it. He shrugged off Richard’s shoulder and threw the cables into the chest before moving on, not once looking at Richard.

“Would you like something to eat?” he asked. 

“No Nines, I don’t want anything to fucking eat!” he snapped. Richard watched as Gavin turned around, anger burning in his eyes. “I’m not the one who needs food! I’m not fucking hungry, yet I decide to eat because I’m bored, when there are people out there who actually need something to fucking eat!”

“Gavin, what—”

“I just—I—” Gavin let out a frustrated yell and kicked the chest. “It’s fucking ridiculous! They can’t do anything about it!”

Richard pulled Gavin back away from the chest, pump pounding and errors flashing in his system. Gavin tried pushing him off again, fighting him and yelling, but Richard would not let him go.

“Let go of me!”

Nines forced Gavin to face him, holding his arms pulling him close. “Gavin, Gavin, please, what’s wrong?”

Gavin didn’t answer. He had stopped fighting Richard but he still wouldn’t look at him. Richard analyzed his boyfriend, reading his heart rate and breathing. He knows that it annoys Gavin but he’s just worried about him.

“Gavin, please talk to me,” Richard whispered. He let go of Gavin’s arms and placed his hands on his waist. Gavin wrapped his arms on Richard’s waist as well and hid his face in his neck. “What is making you so upset?”

“The scene,” he mumbled.

“What scene?”

“The scene that I went to tonight,” Gavin huffed. “It’s just...it was horrible, babe. I couldn’t even believe anything I was hearing.”

“Would you like to talk about it?” Gavin held his breath, staying still as he contemplated.

“No, but I should.” he relented. Richard nodded his head and held Gavin closer, trying to provide as much comfort as he could. There are only a few things that he has seen make Gavin this upset, but he was always there when they happened. This is something that Richard has never had to deal with before.

“I got the call thirty minutes before I was going to get off of work,” he started. “I was confused on why they didn’t call Hank first, seeing as he is the senior officer in homicide, but I agreed to head to the scene nonetheless.” Richard nodded his head in understanding. Even though Hank and Gavin had a lot of tension, they really didn’t let any of that get in the way of their job. Of course it had taken a while for the two to get there, but Richard was proud of them.

“So I hopped in my shitty ass car and headed over. You know how it goes—I get there, it’s cold as shit, I look around for any obvious things, wave off people fucking peeping and trying to get a sneakpeak of the latest murder, get briefed.”

Gavin paused again. His breathing was deeper, more controlled, and Richard could tell that he was trying to keep his composure. He started rubbing Gavin’s lower back to comfort him and Gavin hugged him tight, kissing his neck.

“It.. the victim was a 9-year-old boy. His body wasn’t at the scene, he had been carried to the hospital, but we had been called on by doctors and other officials that we had to check out the house, as that is where the damage was done before he died. I checked out the house and… and—” Gavin grunted and took a deep breath once again.

“It is okay to cry and let out your feelings, Gavin,” Richard muttered.

“Yeah, I fucking know, it’s just—I saw his body. I saw the house.” He squeezed Richard tight but didn’t let go. “He was—there was so much fucking blood, Nines. Katy had gone around marked where all the blood splatter was and she ran out of fucking markers. We had gotten photos of the kid because that was  _ important  _ for our investigation and he—he had bruises, cuts, wounds, and blood all over him! He had a fucking hand print on his goddamn neck!” Richard could finally feel the tears on his synthetic skin, could feel Gavin shaking as he cried.

He was stunned. He knew that there were plenty of child murder cases that have been reported, but he and Gavin had never been called to see them, to investiagte them. It was never in their area.

“I am sorry, Gavin,” Richard mumbled.

“It’s just,” Gavin gasped. “He was so young! He didn’t fucking deserve an ending where he died at the hand of the people that are supposed to love him. And he looked so—so tortured! The bruises weren’t new, the wounds were healing. And it’s just—”

“Shh,” Richard mumbled. He adjusted his hold on Gavin and placed his hand on the back of his head, his other arm holding his waist. He swayed them on their feet as Gavin cried and cursed in frustration, in pain. 

They stayed like that for many minutes while Gavin cried. Richard just held him through it. He has never seen a case like this. He has seen and dealt with cases where children are involved and Gavin was always with him on those cases. Though, they were before they started dating, so Richard would not be surprised if Gavin would go to his apartment and do the exact same thing he is doing now, except then he is alone with his own thoughts.

“That’s why they didn’t want to give it to Hank,” Richard commented once Gavin started calming down. Gavin nodded his head.

“Yeah, like—They know it’s a part of his job description, but I feel like Connor got a whiff of what the scene was going to be like and turned them away. For his sake.” 

“That does sound like a very Connor thing to do.” Gavin let out a laugh.

“Yeah. Fucking bootlicker would never let someone even offer Hank his least favorite ice cream.” Richard let out a chuckle. 

Gavin pulled back from Richard just a bit, looking Richard in the face for the second time that night. His eyes were extremely red and puff, and he had a bit of snot trying to escape. It wasn’t the prettiest face, but Richard would never expect it to be. Not after seeing something like Gavin has had to.

“Thank you for letting me cry,” Gavin mumbled. 

“You can cry anytime you need,” Richard assured. “Your organic brain cannot handle when you bottle it up.”

“Yeah, okay, let’s see your circuits handle what my meatball can,” Gavin snapped, but he let out a small smile.

It was short lived. The smile quickly dropped from his face as he moved around, mind obviously still on the case.

“I think we should head to bed now,” Richard suggested. Gavin let out a nod. 

“Yeah. Yeah, I think that would be best.”

And so they got ready. Gavin took a shower before getting ready while Richard laid in bed, nothing but his boxers, reading up on any news about the murder from tonight. He knew it was difficult for Gavin to even talk about the case in the first place, so he just wanted to see if there was any way that he could get his questions answered.

Gavin climbed into bed next to him and Richard quickly closed out the searches, fully turning his attention towards Gavin who was quickly curling up into his side. Richard turned off the lights in the house remotely before scooting down to get into a more comfortable position for Gavin.

“Gavin?” Richard whispered. Gavin let out a ‘hm?’ in acknowledgment, so Richard knew he had to talk fast before he fell asleep.

“That little boy was in the hands of the best people that could save him. Though he did not make it, you can do the next best thing and put those who hurt him behind bars.”

Gavin squeezed Richard and hid his head in his chest, but he didn’t seem upset.

“I know,” Gavin mumbled. “Thanks babe.”

“I love you.”

“Love ya too.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is short and sad. Sorry. I watched the Trials of Gabriel Fernandez and was mad, am mad, and projected onto Gavin because I couldn't help but imagine how he would react to this. So that's what I did.  
> On happier note, who is ready for the new fan made movie coming out?! It's like, 8 days from when I'm posting this. I'm super fucking excited and can't wait.
> 
> Come talk to me on tumblr!: igottoomuchwriting


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